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Old 06-04-2012, 02:19 PM   #11 (permalink)
strangewierding
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7 Years Tire Experience, Presently an Engineering Student

The benefits of increasing the pressure in your tires is to minimize sidewall deflection when cornering and to minimize tread contact and therefore energy losses due to friction.

As dcb said the tire will not inflated beyond the diameter of the belts. The steel belts across the tread of the tire are meant to create a minimally flexible flat surface which the tread itself rides against. For that reason the tread area or crown of the tire is made of four or more plies (layers) of steel chords. The sidewall is predominantly nylon chords which allow it to flex under load. It is this combination of stiff surface and flexible sidewall which allows modern radial tires to get the longevity and performance which they do.

Increasing the air pressure (beyond MAX inflation listed on tire) to attempt to even out the wear in this situation will likely lead to a belt separation AKA a garbage tire.

I drive a '03 VW Golf TDI with 225/45R17 Toyo Versado LX on it. I run my pressure at approximately 40 PSI as I prefer the firmer ride, better handling and better economy. In the three years that I have had these tire all that I check for wear is overall evenness. You can't get better wear than that.

In summary, over-inflating your tires will even out wear to a point, but beyond that the benefits are negligible.

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